Front Opening Unified Pod disposed with purgeable supporting module

ABSTRACT

A Front Opening Unified Pod (FOUP) having a purgeable supporting module disposed at the junction of each sidewall and the backwall of the container, the characteristic of the FOUP being in that: the purgeable supporting module has a buffer gas chamber and a gas inlet is disposed at one end of the buffer gas chamber and connected to a gas valve on the bottom surface, an outgassing channel is disposed on the purgeable supporting module facing the opening of the FOUP, and a long slot is disposed on one side of the outgassing channel, an airflow channel being disposed between and thus connecting the outgassing channel and the buffer gas chamber, and a plurality of supporting ribs being vertically disposed on one side of the long slot at intervals.

The current invention is a continuation-in-part of, and claims apriority to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/202,389 filed on Sep. 1,2008 which claimed a foreign priority to a foreign application of Taiwan097132635 filed on Aug. 27, 2008. The current application also claims aforeign priority to the following foreign application:

1. Taiwan, 099134683, filed on Oct. 12, 2010

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention is related to a Front Opening Unified Pod (FOUP),and more particularly, to a FOUP disposed with purgeable supportingmodule, a buffer gas chamber being disposed in the purgeable supportingmodule for gas to form a uniform gas flow field in the FOUP.

2. Description of the Prior Art

Semiconductor wafers need to be transferred by the automated system todifferent workstations to go through various processes in requiredequipments. In order to facilitate the transferring of wafers and toprotect the wafers from external contaminants during the transferringprocess, a sealed container is provided for the automatic transferringprocess. Referring to FIG. 1, which is a view of wafer container of theprior art. The wafer container is a Front Opening Unified Pod (FOUP)that has a container body 10 and a door 20. The container body 10comprises a pair of sidewalls 10L and a top surface 10T and a bottomsurface 10B that are joined with the pair of sidewalls 10L, and anopening 12 is formed on one sidewall. A backwall 10B′ is formed on theother sidewall that is opposite to the opening 12, wherein a pluralityof slots 11 are respectively disposed on the pair of sidewalls 10L forhorizontally supporting a plurality of wafers. The door 20 furtherincludes an outer surface 21 and an inner surface 22, wherein the door20 is joined with the opening 12 of the container body 10 via the innersurface 22 to protect the plurality of wafers within the container body10. Furthermore, at least one latch hole 23 is disposed on the outersurface 21 of the door 20 for opening or closing the FOUP. In the FOUPdescribed above, the wafers are horizontally placed in the containerbody 10, and thus, a wafer restraint component is needed in the FOUP toprevent wafers from displacing or moving toward the opening 12 ofcontainer body 10 during the wafer transferring process due tovibration.

Referring to FIG. 2, which is a view of the structure of door 20 of aFront Opening Unified Pod disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,736,268. As shownin FIG. 2, the inner side 22 of the door 20 is disposed with a recess24. The recess 24 extends from the top end 221 of the inner side 22 tothe bottom end 222 and is located between two latch mechanisms 230 (inthe interior of the door). A wafer restraint module is further disposedin the recess 24, and the wafer restraint module is composed of twowafer restraint components 100 set side by side. Each wafer restraintcomponent 100 includes a plurality of wafer contacts 110, which are usedfor sustaining corresponding wafers to prevent wafers from displacing ormoving toward the opening of the container body during the wafertransferring process due to vibration.

The aforementioned slots 11 on two sidewalls 10L of the container body10 and the wafer restraint module on the inner surface 22 of the door 20are respectively used for supporting and restraining the plurality ofwafers carried in the interior of the wafer container. However, frictionbetween these supporters and restraint components and wafers occurseasily in the process of transferring the wafers and results in thegeneration of particles. When particles are generated in the containerbody 10 of the wafer container, they may remain on the surface of wafersor contaminate the wafers and thus cause decrease in chip yield.Therefore, wear-resistant materials are usually used when designingsupporters and restraint components of wafer container to prevent fromthe generation of too many particles when the supporters and restraintcomponents are in contact with the wafers. As shown in FIG. 3, which isa sectional view of the supporting module disposed on two sidewalls ofthe wafer container disclosed in US Patent No. 2006/0283774. Thesupporting module comprises a plurality of supporters 500 verticallyarranged at intervals, and the surface of the supporters 500 is coatedwith a resin layer 501. The resin layer 501 has low-friction propertyand can prevent from generation of particles due to friction betweensupporters 500 and the wafers. However, in this design, since the resinlayer 501 includes a bevel, wafers are only supported near the edgeswhen being supported by the resin layer 501 of supporters 500. Thus whenthe scale of wafers is larger, drooping or sinking of wafers occurs moreeasily, which not only makes it easier for cracks of wafers to occur butalso results more easily in chips or damage to wafers when wafers aretransferred by the robotic arm.

Furthermore, certain components are disposed in the interior of thewafer container in some designs; for example, an outgassing opening orslit is formed near the contact area of wafers and the aforementionedsupporters or restraint module for carrying particles generated due tofriction away from wafers. As shown in FIG. 4, which is a view of thepurgeable supporting module that can be disposed inside a wafercontainer as disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 6,899,145. The purgeablesupporting module comprises a hollow main body 600, which is fastened tothe sidewall of the container body of the wafer container and includes aplurality of vertical supporters 601 extending toward the interior ofthe container body, the plurality of wafers in the container body beingsupported by the plurality of supporters via the upper surface 602. Ahorizontal bar-shaped slot is formed on the side surface 603 of thesupporters, from which gas in the hollow main body 600 is expelled toprevent the particles generated due to friction from forming on thesurface of the wafers. In the aforementioned structure, as thebar-shaped slot is disposed on the side surface 603 of the supporters601, it is more possible that the supporting force may be insufficientand thus displacement or overlapping of wafers that cause severerdamages of wafers may occur more easily. Moreover, when the wafers arecarried by the supporters 601 via the upper surface 602, the contactarea between the wafers and the supporters 601 is rather large and makesit easier for particles to generate. In addition, the length of thebar-shaped slot is about the same as the length of wafers, and thereforethe gas flow may be too weak and larger purging equipment is needed toprovide a larger amount of gas to form gas flow field that functionseffectively enough. Thus, a purgeable supporting module with a morecomprehensive design is needed to be disposed in the wafer container sothat particles can be effectively prevented from generating and formingon the surface of the wafers.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

As described above, there are still some problems with purgeablesupporting module disposed in the container body of wafer container ofthe prior art such that the wafer supporting force is insufficient, thecontact area between wafers and supporters is too large, and particlesare easily generated. One primary objective of the present invention isthus to provide a FOUP disposed with purgeable supporting module, thepurgeable supporting module being disposed at the junction of thesidewall and the backwall of the container body and including at least along slot facing the opening, gas being expelled from the long slot forcontrolling the conditions of the internal environment of the FOUP suchas atmospheric pressure, moisture, and type(s) of gas in the interior.

Another primary objective of the present invention is to provide a FOUPdisposed with purgeable supporting module which includes at least a longslot facing the opening, gas being expelled from the long slot to form agas flow field for carrying away particles on the wafers to preventparticles from being formed on top of the wafers.

Still another primary objective of the present invention is to provide aFOUP disposed with purgeable supporting module which includes a buffergas chamber, a gas inlet being disposed at one end of the buffer gaschamber and the buffer gas chamber being connected to the long slot ofthe outgassing channel; when the pressure in the buffer gas chamber isat saturation pressure, a uniform gas flow is expelled from the longslot to form a gas flow field for carrying away particles on the wafersto prevent particles from being formed on top of the wafers.

Yet another primary objective of the present invention is to provide aFOUP disposed with purgeable supporting module, the supporting modulebeing disposed on sidewall of the wafer container and having a pluralityof supporters or supporting ribs vertically arranged at intervals,wherein a wear-resistant supporting round head is disposed on thesupporters or supporting ribs for the supporters or supporting ribs tocontact the wafers via the supporting round head in order to reduce thearea in contact with the wafers and prevent from generation of particlesdue to friction with wafers.

And still another primary objective of the present invention is toprovide a FOUP disposed with purgeable supporting module, the purgeablesupporting module being disposed at the junction of sidewall andbackwall of the container body and having a plurality of supporters orsupporting ribs vertically arranged at intervals and a plurality ofrestraint components vertically arranged at intervals, the plurality ofsupporters being located near the sidewall of the container body and theplurality of restraint components being located near the backwall of thecontainer body for the purgeable supporting module to be able to, inaddition to supporting the wafers, prevent the wafers from moving towardthe backwall and thus reduce the particles generated.

And yet another primary objective of the present invention is to providea FOUP disposed with purgeable supporting module, a protruding piecebeing disposed at the front end of each of the supporting ribs of thepurgeable supporting module for contacting the back of the wafers sothat, by utilizing the length of the supporting ribs, wafers of largerscale can be better supported, deformation or sinking of wafers can beavoided, and yield of wafer process can thus be increased.

To achieve the aforementioned objectives, the present inventiondiscloses a FOUP that comprises a container body, which includes a pairof sidewalls and a top surface and a bottom surface respectively joinedto the pair of sidewalls, an opening being formed on a sidewall and abackwall being formed on another sidewall opposite to the opening, asupporting module being respectively disposed on the pair of sidewallsfor sustaining a plurality of wafers and a purgeable supporting modulebeing respectively disposed at the junctions of the pair of sidewallsand the backwall, and a door, which includes an outer surface and aninner surface and is joined with the opening of the container body viathe inner surface to protect the plurality of wafers in the containerbody, the characteristic of the wafer container being in that: eachpurgeable supporting module has a buffer gas chamber and a gas inletconnected to a gas valve of the bottom surface is disposed at one end ofthe buffer gas chamber, an outgassing channel is disposed on thepurgeable supporting module facing the opening and a long slot isdisposed on one side of the outgassing channel, an airflow channel beingfurther disposed between and thus connecting the outgassing channel andthe buffer gas chamber, and a plurality of supporting ribs arranged atintervals are vertically disposed on one side of the long slot.Moreover, the purgeable supporting module can further comprise aplurality of restraint components vertically arranged at intervals torestrain the wafers from moving toward the backwall of the containerbody.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a view of the Front Opening Unified Pod (FOUP) of the priorart;

FIG. 2 is a view of the door of the FOUP of the prior art;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the supporting module of the prior art;

FIG. 4 is a view of the purgeable supporting module of the prior art;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the container body of a FOUP of thepresent invention;

FIG. 6 is a view of the container body of a FOUP of the presentinvention with only the purgeable supporting module remaining within;

FIG. 7 is a view of the container body of a FOUP of the presentinvention;

FIG. 8A and FIG. 8B are views of the purgeable supporting module of aFOUP of the present invention;

FIG. 9A to FIG. 9F are views of an embodiment of the long slot of thepurgeable supporting module of a FOUP of the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a view of a FOUP of the present invention in which thepurgeable supporting module is not yet disposed;

FIG. 11 is a magnified view of the purgeable supporting module of a FOUPof the present invention;

FIG. 12 is a part-sectioned view of a FOUP of the present inventiondisposed with the purgeable supporting module; and

FIG. 13A and FIG. 13B are views of another design of purgeablesupporting module of a FOUP of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

In order to disclose the technology employed, objectives held, andeffects achieved by the present invention in a clearer and more completeway, preferred embodiments are described in detail in the following withreference to accompanying drawings and signs for further illustration.

First, referring to FIG. 5, FIG. 6, and FIG. 7, which are respectively aperspective view of the container body of the FOUP of the presentinvention, a view of the container body with only the purgeablesupporting module remaining within, and a side view of the containerbody with only the purgeable supporting module remaining within. Thecontainer body 10 of the FOUP includes a pair of sidewalls 10L and a topsurface 10T and a bottom surface 10B joined to the pair of sidewalls10L, and an opening 12 is formed on one sidewall and a backwall 10B′ isformed on another sidewall opposite to the opening 12, wherein asupporting module 300 is respectively disposed on the pair of sidewalls10L near the opening 12 and a purgeable supporting module 200 isrespectively disposed at the junction of the pair of sidewalls 10L andthe backwall 10B′. The form of the aforementioned supporting module 300can be that of the supporting module of the prior art and is not limitedin the present invention.

Referring then to FIG. 8A and FIG. 8B, which are views of an embodimentof purgeable supporting module of the present invention. First, as shownin FIG. 8A, the purgeable supporting module 200 of the present inventioncomprises mainly a main body 200B and two parts extending from the mainbody 200B for supporting the wafers, wherein the first part comprises aplurality of supporting ribs 201 vertically arranged at intervals andthe second part comprises a plurality of restraint components 202vertically arranged at intervals, an outgassing channel 208 b beingdisposed between the intervals formed by these supporting ribs 201 andrestraint components 202 and a long slot 203 a being disposed on oneside of the outgassing channel 208 b; with the design of the outgassingchannel 208 b and the long slot 203 a, the interior of container body 10can be purged via the long slot 203 a; moreover, with the correspondingdeployment of the plurality of supporting ribs 201 and the plurality ofrestraint components 202 and the supporting modules 300 on the pair ofsidewalls 10L, the plurality of wafers can be jointly supported. And thepurgeable supporting module 200 of the present invention is anintegrated structure and can be manufactured by injection molding.

Then, referring to FIG. 8A, FIG. 8B, and FIG. 9A, a buffer gas chamber206 is disposed in the interior of the aforementioned main body 200B,the height of the buffer gas chamber 206 being the same as that of themain body 200B (as shown in FIG. 9A) or half of the height of the mainbody 200B (as shown in FIG. 8A). Referring to FIG. 8A and FIG. 9A, a gasinlet 207 is disposed at one end of the buffer gas chamber 206 and canbe further connected to one gas valve or gas inlet valve 401 (shown inFIG. 10) on the bottom surface 10B of the container body 10. No matterthe height of the buffer gas chamber 206 is the same as that of the mainbody 200B (as shown in FIG. 9A) or half of the height of the main body200B (as shown in FIG. 8A), an airflow channel 208 a is disposed at theend of the buffer gas chamber 206 with gas inlet 207. When the height ofthe buffer gas chamber 206 is the same as that of the main body 200B (asshown in FIG. 9A), an airflow channel 208 a can be further disposedrespectively on two opposite ends of the buffer gas chamber 206; sincethe airflow channel 208 a is disposed between the outgassing channel 208b and the buffer gas chamber 206, the buffer gas chamber 206 and theoutgassing channel 208 b can be connected to each other via the airflowchannel 208 a. Therefore, when the gas valve or gas inlet valve 401 ofthe bottom surface 10B of the container body 10 is connected to apurging apparatus (not shown in Figure), gas can enter the buffer gaschamber 206 via the gas inlet 207. When the pressure of gas in thebuffer gas chamber 206 reaches saturation, gas in the buffer gas chamber206 can only enter the outgassing channel 208 b via the airflow channel208 a and be expelled from the long slot 203 a on the outgassing channel208 b since the gas inlet 207 is in contact with and shuts off the gasvalve or gas inlet valve 401. What is to be particularly emphasized hereis that, as the diameter of the long slot 203 a, between 0.01 mm and 5mm, is considerably small when being compared with that of the airflowchannel 208 a, in the process in which gas is purged and enters thebuffer gas chamber 206 via the airflow channel 208 a and then enters theoutgassing channel 208 b, a large portion of the gas first enters theairflow channel 208 a connected to the outgassing channel 208 b, and,after the airflow channel 208 a is again fully purged with gas, thenflows into the outgassing channel 208 b and is expelled via the longslot 203 a. Thus, with the design of the long slot 203 a of the presentinvention, gas expelled from the long slot 203 a functions similarly asan air knife. The difference between the pressure gradients of gasexpelled on two ends of the long slot 203 a will not be too large sothat gas expelled from the long slot 203 a is kept at certain pressurelevel for forming a gas flow field between each supporting rib 201 andeach restraint component 202 that functions to carry particles scatteredaround the supporting ribs 201, restraint components 202, and wafersaway toward the opening 12 and thus prevent the particles fromcontaminating the wafers.

In addition, in the embodiment of the present invention, the diameter ofthe long slot 203 a can gradually decrease or increase from bottom totop (i.e. from the first wafer to the twenty-fifth wafer). Referring toFIG. 9A, which is a view of the embodiment of the long slot 203 a withits diameter gradually increasing from bottom to top, the diameter ofthe end of the long slot 203 a near the gas inlet 207 is smaller, and asthe long slot 203 a extends in the direction opposite to the gas inlet207, the diameter of the long slot 203 a gradually increases. Referringthen to FIG. 9B, which is a view of the embodiment of the long slot 203a with its diameter gradually decreasing from bottom to top, thediameter of the end of the long slot 203 a near the gas inlet 207 islarger, and as the long slot 203 a extends in the direction opposite tothe gas inlet 207, the diameter of the long slot 203 a graduallydecreases. However, to be in accordance with the physical phenomenon, asthe numerical sequence of wafers runs from the first to thetwenty-fifth, the design of the long slot 203 a with diameter graduallyincreasing is preferable to the design of the long slot 203 a withdiameter gradually decreasing since the former design allows gasexpelled to maintain a more uniform pressure. Similarly, the form of theaforementioned long slot 203 a can be bar-shaped, as shown in FIG. 8A,or a plurality of partitions 204 can be vertically disposed at intervalsin the long slot 203 a to form a plurality of gas outlets 205, as shownin FIG. 9C. A plurality of horizontal slots 203 b are formed asextending lengthwise from the long slot 203 a with a distance inbetween, the distances in between being not limited in the presentinvention to be equal among one another, and the horizontal slots 203 bcan also be formed as extending lengthwise to the right and left sideswith the long slot 203 a as the center, as shown in FIG. 9D, or asextending lengthwise only to the right or the left side, as respectivelyshown in FIG. 9E and FIG. 9F. The operating process of purgeablesupporting module shown in FIGS. 9A to 9F is the same as that shown inFIGS. 8A and 8B, with the only difference in the design of the long slot203 a, and the description is therefore omitted. Moreover, gas expelledfrom the long slot 203 a can be selected from the following: an inertgas, cold dry air, nitrogen, or combination of gases mentioned above.

In the aforementioned embodiments as shown in FIGS. 8A to 8B and FIGS.9A to 9F, another gas valve or gas outlet valve (not shown in FIG. 10)can be disposed on the bottom surface 10B of the container body 10 nearthe opening 12. When the purging apparatus purges the container body 10,a small amount of gas in the container body 10 can be allowed to flowout via the gas valve or gas outlet valve near the opening 12, which notonly enables the removal of the particles in the container body 10 butalso reduces the time needed to fully purge the container body 10.Naturally, the container body 10 of the present invention can alsocomprise two pairs of gas inlet valves and gas outlet valves aside fromthe aforementioned gas valves to fulfill the standard for FOUP.

Referring then to FIG. 11, which is a magnified view of purgeablesupporting module of the present invention. The purgeable supportingmodule 200 comprises a plurality of supporting ribs 201, the structureof each of the supporting ribs 201 being like a platform and thematerial of the supporting ribs 201 being selected from the groupconsisting of wear-resistant material, thermoplastic material, polymermaterial, and elastic material; thus, when wafers are supported by thesupporting ribs 201 or on the platform structure, friction that causesgeneration of particles can be avoided. Naturally, as shown in FIG. 11,each of the supporting ribs 201 can further comprise a supporting roundhead 209 for contacting the wafer and reducing the area in contact withthe wafer to further reduce particles generated. Without doubt, it canalso be arranged that only the supporting round head of each of thesupporting ribs 201 is made of a wear-resistant material while otherparts that are not in contact with the wafer are made of other materialsto reduce the production cost. The plurality of restraint components 202of the purgeable supporting module 200 are disposed near or suspended infront of the backwall 10B′ (as shown in FIG. 12) and can thus restrainthe wafers supported by the supporting ribs 201 or by the supportinground heads 209 of the supporting ribs 201 from moving toward thebackwall 10B′ to prevent from crashes between wafers and the backwall10B′. And the restraint components 202 can be slabs made of buffermaterial or wear-resistant material or shallow recess structures formedby the aforementioned materials for accommodating the wafers. Moreover,the inner surface of the door of the FOUP further comprises at least arestraint module (not shown in Figure), which is used to restrain wafersfrom moving toward the opening 12.

The above-mentioned purgeable supporting module 200 comprises a mainbody 200B, a plurality of supporting ribs 201 vertically arranged atintervals, a plurality of restraint components 202 vertically arrangedat intervals, and a long slot 203 a, and the structure of the purgeablesupporting module 200 can be integrated to reduce the production cost.Of course, the purgeable supporting module 200 can also be assembledwith these components, as shown in FIG. 13A and FIG. 13B. The two sidesof the main body 200B of the purgeable supporting module 200 include aplurality of sockets 210 vertically arranged at intervals that allow theinsertion of the plurality of supporting ribs 201 for being assembledwith and fastened to the main body 200B and forming the arrangement atintervals. As the plurality of supporting ribs 201 are fastened to themain body 200B by being assembled, each of the supporting ribs 201 has afastening base 211 that can be embedded into the main body 200B of thesupporting module 200 and also a round hole 212 that allows a previouslyseparated supporting round head 209 to be fitted in and thus fastened tothe supporting rib 201, the supporting ribs 201 thus contacting thewafers via the supporting round heads 209. The material of thesupporting round heads 209 can be selected from the group consisting ofwear-resistant material, thermoplastic material, polymer material, andelastic material, and other parts of the supporting ribs that are not incontact with the wafers can be made of other materials to reduce theproduction cost. Furthermore, the purgeable supporting module 200 of theFOUP of the present invention can also comprise only a main body 200B, aplurality of supporting ribs 201 vertically arranged at intervals, and along slot 203 a, the structure of which is still able to support wafersand allow particles around the wafers to be carried away at the sametime. Furthermore, a plurality of outgassing holes (not shown in Figure)can also be formed among the plurality of supporting ribs 201 verticallyarranged at intervals, and therefore not only the long slot 203 a of thepurgeable supporting module 200 can be used for expelling the gas, butthe plurality of outgassing holes can also be used for carrying awayparticles around the wafers. Of course, the purgeable supporting module200 can also comprise a main body 200B, a plurality of supporting ribs201 vertically arranged at intervals in one row, a plurality ofsupporting ribs 201 vertically arranged at intervals in anotherdifferent row, and a long slot 203 a, which is not limited in thepresent invention. Moreover, like the door of the prior art, the door ofthe FOUP of the present invention can also include a recess disposed onthe inner surface of the door and at least a latch structure can also bedisposed between the outer surface and the inner surface of the door forthe FOUP to operate smoothly.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to theaforementioned preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that theseembodiments are merely illustrative of the principles and applicationsof the present invention. It is therefore to be understood that numerousmodifications may be made to the illustrative embodiments and that otherarrangements may be devised without departing from the spirit and scopeof the present invention as defined by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A Front Opening Unified Pod, comprising acontainer body, having a pair of sidewalls and a top surface and abottom surface joined with said pair of sidewalls, an opening beingformed on one sidewall and a backwall being formed on another sidewallopposite to said opening, a supporting module being respectivelydisposed on said pair of sidewalls for sustaining a plurality of wafersand a purgeable supporting module being respectively disposed atjunctions of said pair of sidewalls and said backwall, and a door,having an outer surface and an inner surface, said door being joinedwith said opening of said container body via said inner surface forprotecting said plurality of wafers in said container body, wherein thecharacteristic of said Front Opening Unified Pod is in that: said eachpurgeable supporting module has a buffer gas chamber and a gas inlet isdisposed at one end of said buffer gas chamber, said gas inlet beingconnected to one gas valve of said bottom surface, an outgassing channelbeing disposed on said purgeable supporting module facing said openingand a long slot being disposed on one side of said outgassing channel,and an airflow channel being disposed between said outgassing channeland said buffer gas chamber and thus connecting said outgassing channeland said buffer gas chamber, and a plurality of supporting ribs arevertically disposed at intervals on one side of said long slot.
 2. TheFront Opening Unified Pod according to claim 1, wherein said long slotcan be vertically partitioned into a plurality of gas outlets by aplurality of partitions.
 3. The Front Opening Unified Pod according toclaim 1, wherein said long slot is in a tapering form narrowing towardits lower end.
 4. The Front Opening Unified Pod according to claim 1,wherein said long slot is in a tapering form narrowing toward its upperend.
 5. The Front Opening Unified Pod according to claim 1, wherein aplurality of horizontal slots are further formed as extending lengthwisefrom said long slot, a distance being kept between each of saidplurality of horizontal slots.
 6. The Front Opening Unified Podaccording to claim 1, wherein said airflow channel is disposed at theend of said buffer gas chamber having said gas inlet.
 7. The FrontOpening Unified Pod according to claim 1, wherein said airflow channelis disposed at two opposite ends of said buffer gas chamber.
 8. TheFront Opening Unified Pod according to claim 1, wherein outgassing holesare further formed among said plurality of supporting ribs verticallyarranged at intervals.
 9. The Front Opening Unified Pod according toclaim 1, wherein a gas can be expelled from said long slot, said gasbeing selected from the group consisting of: inert gases, cold dry air,and nitrogen.
 10. The Front Opening Unified Pod according to claim 1,wherein structure of said purgeable supporting module is integrated. 11.A Front Opening Unified Pod, comprising a container body, having a pairof sidewalls and a top surface and a bottom surface joined with saidpair of sidewalls, an opening being formed on one sidewall and abackwall being formed on another sidewall opposite to said opening, asupporting module being respectively disposed on said pair of sidewallsfor sustaining a plurality of wafers and a purgeable supporting modulebeing respectively disposed at junctions of said pair of sidewalls andsaid backwall, and a door, having an outer surface and an inner surface,said door being joined with said opening of said container body via saidinner surface for protecting said plurality of wafers in said containerbody, wherein the characteristic of said Front Opening Unified Pod is inthat: said each purgeable supporting module comprises a main body, saidmain body having a buffer gas chamber and a gas inlet being disposed atone end of said buffer gas chamber, said gas inlet being connected toone gas valve of said bottom surface, and a plurality of supporting ribsvertically arranged at intervals, a plurality of restraint componentsvertically arranged at intervals, and said plurality of supportingmodules on said pair of sidewalls jointly support said plurality ofwafers, wherein an outgassing channel is disposed among said pluralityof supporting ribs and said plurality of restraint components and a longslot is disposed on one side of said outgassing channel, an airflowchannel being disposed between said outgassing channel and said buffergas chamber and thus connecting said outgassing channel and said buffergas chamber.
 12. The Front Opening Unified Pod according to claim 11,wherein said long slot can be vertically partitioned into a plurality ofgas outlets by a plurality of partitions.
 13. The Front Opening UnifiedPod according to claim 11, wherein said long slot is in a tapering formnarrowing toward its lower end.
 14. The Front Opening Unified Podaccording to claim 11, wherein said long slot is in a tapering formnarrowing toward its upper end.
 15. The Front Opening Unified Podaccording to claim 11, wherein a plurality of horizontal slots arefurther formed as extending lengthwise from said long slot, a distancebeing kept between each of said plurality of horizontal slots.
 16. TheFront Opening Unified Pod according to claim 11, wherein said airflowchannel is disposed at the end of said buffer gas chamber having saidgas inlet.
 17. The Front Opening Unified Pod according to claim 11,wherein said airflow channel is disposed at two opposite ends of saidbuffer gas chamber.
 18. The Front Opening Unified Pod according to claim11, wherein outgassing holes are further formed among said plurality ofsupporting ribs vertically arranged at intervals.
 19. The Front OpeningUnified Pod according to claim 11, wherein a gas can be expelled fromsaid long slot, said gas being selected from the group consisting of:inert gases, cold dry air, and nitrogen.
 20. The Front Opening UnifiedPod according to claim 11, wherein structure of said purgeablesupporting module is integrated.